Harmison delighted with Ashington side’s character

Brian Bennett

Ashington FC manager Steve Harmison was delighted after his side had claimed their first victory of the season with a 2-1 result against West Auckland on Tuesday night.

And the Woodhorn Lane boss praised his side’s character after they came from behind.

“It was a good win and the togetherness was there, which in all fairness was evident at the weekend against Shildon,” he said.

“We started with a plan playing one up front to try and stifle Shildon, and it worked for 15 minutes, then all of a sudden a great quality free kick by Lewis Wing undone us.

“Conor Grant got a decent hand on it but could not stop it from 35 yards, which tells you how good a strike it was.

“Tonight we had a good first 45 minutes and had a couple of chances, which has been our downfall in the first couple of games as we have not taken them.

“The lads battled unbelievably well and I don’t really want to single anyone out because they stuck together.

“Even when they went a goal behind, after the two and a half weeks they have had including being down to ten men after 90 seconds against Consett, who showed against South Shields on Saturday what a good side they are, they went to face Shildon, who I think will win the league, and stuck with them for 80-90 per cent of the game.

“Tonight we were looking for this game to be the one to kick start us.

“It’s nice having Ben Harmison up top, he causes a lot of problems and gets us higher up the pitch.

“I thought the young lads did well again. Seventeen-year-old Ben Sampson came on for 20 minutes against Shildon and was impressive, Harrison Scott again did OK in his second appearance for us, and Scott Gunn came on as a substitute because we wanted to give him a little bit of a break after a tough couple of weeks.

“All in all I was really pleased with the effort and performance that the lads gave.

“They were playing against a well organised side in West Auckland, and we let our foot slip again at the start of the second half, but full credit to every one of my players.